January 7, 2012
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a little child set in our midst leads us into the New Year
At the beginning of a New Year, we evaluate the past year, and we look ahead to the coming year. Well, how often do we as Christians do that without eternity in view? How often do we live no differently than the world, rather than living like strangers and pilgrims that we are? Are we working fervently to store up treasures on earth while being slack and sluggish about laying up treasures in heaven? Are we futilely searching to find happiness in the things of this world rather than seeking to be fully satisfied in Jesus Christ, the fount of every pure and good and holy blessing?
How often do we focus on and seek after the temporal rather than the eternal? How often do we take comfort in and put our trust in what is earthly? Do we consider our soul's needs primary so that we find ourselves praying that we might be single-eyed and whole-hearted for Christ, striving by the grace of God to fix our hearts and minds on things above, making a heavenly ascent, longing to drink more and more deeply of Jesus Christ, the living water? Or, in contrast, do our fleshly lusts continue to prevail and draw us downward into a vain vortex of hewing broken cisterns and drinking stagnant water which will never satisfy us, but in the end will leave us thirstier than when we started?
How often do our desires revolve around seeking our own kingdom and our own glory rather than that of our heavenly Father? Does the love of God constrain and compel us – or love of self? Are we seeking to be about our Father's business as the Lord Jesus was – or our own business? Are we seeking to gain the whole world – and in the meantime putting ourselves in danger of losing our souls?
Are we bowing to the authority of God's Word, or are we walking after the imagination of our own hearts? Are we sowing to the Spirit – or to the flesh? Are we walking in the light as God is in the light – or are we communing with the darkness, rather than obeying God's command to come out and be separate and to be holy as He is holy? Are we savoring goodness, or are we fondling evil? Are we mortifying sin and purifying ourselves as He is pure? Are we living lives worthy of the precious blood that was shed for us?
Are we living like those of whom Paul spoke as being saved, yet as by fire, or those whom Peter described as being scarcely saved? Are we trying to get by with the bare minimum, or are we going full out for Christ, with our souls following hard after God? Are we pressing into the kingdom of God with violence, and taking it by force? What's our spiritual temperature? Would Jesus consider us we hot or cold – or are we lukewarm and just about to be spewed out of Christ's mouth? Let us remember, that God will not be mocked. He is a jealous God and a consuming fire. If we are Christ's, God's gift of salvation ought never lead us into a deadly complacency and vile presumption but rather to a holy consumption and a fervent zeal for God, God's glory, God's Gospel, God's mission and purposes, and personal holiness. Are we bearing fruits worthy of repentance? Have we abandoned our first Love?
In my post yesterday I included an excerpt from Robert Murray M'Cheyne's "Another Lily Gathered,"* the account of a young boy, James Laing. This boy suffered with ill health from the age of eight, the year his mother died. Today I'm presenting the account surrounding New Year's Day 1842, which followed his conversion in October 1841, when he was thirteen years old. May God give us each one of us grace to examine ourselves...
On the last day of 1841, he said to his sister, "I will tell you what I would like for my New Year (Gift). I would like a praying heart, and a heart to love Christ more." Next day a woman came in, and said, "Poor Jamie! you'll get no fun this New Year's Day." James said, "Poor body, she thinks like as I care for the New Year. I have far better than you have, though you had the whole world. This is the happiest New Year's Day that ever I had, for I have Christ." She was very deaf, and did not hear what he said; but he often pitied that woman and prayed for her.At another time his father said, "Poor Jamie!" He replied, "Ah, father, don't call me poor, I am rich; they that have Christ have all things."
A little after the New Year, he said, "Margaret, I am not to die yet, for I have mair to suffer; but I am willing, though it should be for years." On one occasion when he was suffering much pain, he said, "Five minutes in glory will make up for all this suffering."
How do your desires for the New Year compare with James Laing's?
What gift are you longing for this coming year?
Can you profess from the heart that having Christ means you have far better than one who might have the whole world?
Do you find yourself continuing to long for more stuff of this world –
rather than longing for more of Christ, longing to know more of the love of Christ and longing to love Christ more?
Does having Christ make you supremely happy?
No matter your circumstances, do you consider yourself rich and having all things because you have Christ?In your suffering, do you have an eye to the eternal
glory that awaits you in Christ?
With the Shulamite woman, can you truthfully say that
Jesus Christ is
chief among 10,000,
sweeter than any other lover,
lovelier than any other lover,
and that
you desire no other lover?Song of Solomon 5:9, 10, 16
What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women?
what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?
My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand...
His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
Is Jesus Christ your first Love?
What other lovers are vying for your affections?
Can you truly say that Jesus Christ is enough.. that He is more than enough?Matthew 18:1 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Since the time He walked the earth, Jesus has continued to call those who have become as little children unto Him and set these souls in our midst as a testimony and an example to us, so we might not be presumptuous, but test ourselves to see whether we have been converted and we are indeed in the faith, and to spur us on in the race set before us. And today, through the pen of Robert Murray M'Cheyne, Jesus has set this little child, James Laing, in the midst of us so we might rightly examine ourselves to see whether indeed we have been converted and have become as little children and are in the faith . . .
Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
May God be gracious to us and give us an ear to hear what the Spirit has to say to the churches . . .and to each one of us . . .
II Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
* "Another Lily Gathered"<http://books.google.com/books?id=JIY6AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA504#v=onepage&q&f=false> is included in the "Memoir & Remains of Robert Murray M'Cheyne" by Andrew A. Bonar <http://books.google.com/books?id=JIY6AAAAcAAJ&pg=PR3#v=onepage&q&f=false>.Related:
My posts on the New Year including...
With the New Year Come New Resolutions, but How Can We Become Entirely New?
One week into 2009: a prayer to press on & manifest Jesus (Charles Wesley)
New Year's resolutions? ... not "without God's help" (Jonathan Edwards)
Remember last year
my best resolutions
Sacrifice
your resolution - "Divine Intervention" by Lecrae
don't waste your new year ~ teach us, satisfy us, make us glad (Psalm 90:12-15)
A New Year's Eben-ezer (Morning by morning I do awake ... O! the mystery of sovereign grace)What is a nominal Christian?
Barabbas we save, Jesus Christ we slay (the mockery of profession ~ decisional regeneration)
why we need a new heart (Bible reading - Matthew 5)
the Holy Spirit and Life
Christian, are you bearing fruit in keeping with repentance?
Why read Christian biography? To help us examine our love for God.
a little child shall lead them in life and in death
Have you forgotten? Will you REMEMBER and REPENT?
Dear children | Hosea 2:5 For their mother hath played the harlot
Is your faith living – or is it dead? (Isaac Watts)
Have you believed with your heart ... all your heart? (Acts 8:37)
Half a heart, half a heart (How long? If the LORD is God, follow Him)
His seed (If ye be Christ's ~ He came seeking fruit)
In which circle do you take your stand? ~ Hewitson's holy ambition ~ Are you a true disciple?
Two Fountains ~ Where are you drinking? What is flowing? Don't waste your drinking!
Flame of Jehovah! Jealousy's Love
Links to my posts on true and false religion and legalismScripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.
"Jesus Blessing the Children" by Bernard Plockhorst (1825-1888) - {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}
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Comments (7)
Always remembering that New Years resolutions depend upon my keeping them, I trust in Christ instead. This year will be the best year of my life even though I don't know what it will bring. Peggy said that 2010 would be her best year and that she would walk again without a walker or cane....she was right on both counts.
These posts on the young boy, James Laing, have blessed me immensely. Thank you!
Good Morning Karen, I may have to come back and finish this. My wife may jump out of bed any minute and I would need to give her a cup of coffee.. lol I am not very spiritual---always focusing on the practical side of life.
I am cognizant (big word for me) of a few things. I was born again on Feb. 13, 1965 in my office at work. Jesus died and paid for all of my sins, so I won't have to do that myself. I like that idea. It is truly amazing what God the Father asked His Son to do for lost humanity. All of the total sum goodness of all Christians of all time lumped together would be a teaspoon full of good works compared to the the endless, eternal grace and mercy of God that saved my wretched soul. In my strange way, I am grateful. What Jesus did cold not be written about even if the ocean was the ink--like in the song.
Now the thorny part. lol My weaknesses. I have weaknesses. lol Are you surprised? lol
I am happy with what the Lord has done in my life. This will sound ugly, but He took my MIL and Aunt to heaven close together in 2011 and spared me a lot of anguish. Believe it or not, they both claimed Christ as their Lord and Savior. Their dementia and Alzheimer made them seem more ugly than they were.
God has always come through for me--as undeserving as I am. It is a mystery. Here is me, carnal Frank, and the Lord just keeps blessing and blessing and blessing.
I read my Bible daily and annually, pray daily, use prayer journals for help in praying, etc. but I am still Frank. lol My wife says that I have changed. She is right---my outer conduct has changed, but I am still Frank the creep inside. lol
I try to do better with the help of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes I get such encouragement from some Xanga Friends who Message me about spiritual things. It is a mystery. lol
I don' know what to say, Karen, You are absolutely correct in what you write here. Christ should be everything to us. We should turn from the love of the world, but here I sit using my new Notebook, while having a PC in the dining room, a new Tablet love gift from my wife, and a Cruz mini-tablet.. I listen to talk radio at night.
I feel like I love the Lord, but I sure love my electronic gadgets. I was given a bedside radio at age 8 and never got over it---live people talking on the air. My dad gave me my first cup of coffee at age 4 and I still love my coffee breaks at Starbucks. I don't go to church right now, but we are going to Hawaii the end of this month.
I am mixed up . I know what you write is true. I also know God has blessed me incredibly in ways I don't deserve. It is a mystery to me. It really is, Karen.
I love reading your posts, but I have to get up early, pray, and try to concentrate. You are so over my head. You should be a professor in a Seminary. I am not kidding. lol
blessings,
frank
Good post with many GREAT questions--ones we need to ask ourselves often. For me, the one about seeking the temporal--not eternal things rings loud and clear.
@quest4god@revelife - You're welcome. The testimony of this young man has also blessed and humbled me.
Always remembering that New Years resolutions depend upon my keeping them, I trust in Christ instead. – Yes, in and of ourselves, we are totally unable and wholly insufficient. However, we can make resolutions as God leads, and then ask God to work in us to keep them, much as Jonathan Edwards did:
"Being sensible that I am unable to do any thing without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him, by his grace, to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake."
@ANVRSADDAY - Frank, we all have God-given responsibilities in this world (especially those to our own families), but we always need to be examining ourselves to be sure we're not neglecting the one thing necessary ~ Luke 10. Also, it's not that all earthly stuff is bad in and of itself, it's how we see those things in comparison to our spiritual blessings ~" where your treasure is..." Are we too ready to sell off our spiritual birthright for a pitiful pot of stew in the same way Esau did?
We should have that tension you're speaking of, and we need to remain in the Word of God and continue to ask the Holy Spirit to examine us, so we might know our hearts and walk in God's ways (Psalm 139:23-24).
God has always come through for me--as undeserving as I am. It is a mystery. Here is me, carnal Frank, and the Lord just keeps blessing and blessing and blessing. – This is what I was reflecting on today with a friend, and then later on by myself. ~ "But I obtained mercy!" "Lost in wonder, love & praise!""What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!"
@stephensmustang - Yes, often! It can't be often enough... Our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked, we constantly need to ask the Lord to search us ~ Jer. 17:9-10.
@naphtali_deer - Thanks for your thoughts, Karen. I get up each morning wondering two things--how is God going to bless me, and who will I make mad. lol
Spirit vs. flesh---I will go to my grave with that battle.
Anyway, loving Jesus first and most is the best way to start every morning.
frank